Mmmmm. Miso Soup.

Bear with me for a moment while I quote from a post I made a few days ago:

Insta-food sucks. I end up living off of the stuff when my husband is out of town on business, as he was last week, and it really really sucks. At least the stuff from Trader Joe’s isn’t half bad, but last week I ended up eating stuff from the regular grocery store, and it was so horrid and fat-filled that the very idea of it made me feel nauseous by the end of the week. Yes, that was despite trying to pick my insta-food fairly carefully.

Okay, it hit the point where I finally realized that it’s not normal to feel that nauseous after having fatty foods, and I couldn’t chalk it up to a newfound aversion to unhealthy foods any more. So in one week I go for an ultrasound to find out if I’m having gallstone troubles.

In the meantime, I have to say for anyone else having this problem (since I’ve now read up on it enough to know that there are a lot of people with gallstone trouble out there), that a nice cup of instant miso soup is very settling to the stomach under these circumstances, even when you’ve hit the point where plain oatmeal made with 2% milk is kind of sickeningly fatty (next time I’ll just make it with water).

Well, nothing like having incentive to get healthy, particularly when you have difficulty with self-motivation. I consider this a well-earned kick in the ass from life. Anyway, if you’re wondering why I’m so slow lately about dropping by and commenting on blogs and the like, this is why.

6 comments on “Mmmmm. Miso Soup.”

Going Vegan helps. I’ve lost 20 lbs in a few months, plus exercising has helped. But when changing diets like that, a lot of research was necessary. Too many people go veggie or vegan and just eat crap that’s not meat and call it a diet. Bah, I’m rambling.

That’s the thing… I love fresh veggies, and have found great recipes for whole-grain breads that I love, and have switched almost entirely to whole grains in general. There are just two major problems with going all the way on this.

One is my husband’s occasional business travel. It wouldn’t be so bad if we had a week or two of warning and could make a handful of frozen things that are low-fat that I could thaw for insta-meals, but often we have literally NO warning (one time they even sent him on a supposedly one-day trip and then told him after he was there that he’d be there for a week).

The other is I just love cooking and experimenting and good food, and can’t imagine giving up artisan cheeses, whole eggs, a good beef tenderloin, a pumpkin pie… I’m happy to cut back, but give up? Cooking and good foods are more than just calories to me; they’re a hobby that I’ve had for about 15 years or so.

One thing I’m thinking of trying is just making anything that isn’t incredibly healthy in either very small amounts (like buy a single beef tenderloin and split it with my husband… those are fairly lean and quite small), or in a freezable form and in bite-sized increments. Like, if I’m craving something cheesecakey, make it in bite-size forms and freeze most of them, so I can have a bite at a time as an occasional treat. We have a full-sized freezer, so that should work out.

The other thing is to just keep homemade healthy frozen foods constantly on hand in small packages, so if Jeffrey gets called away on business suddenly I have something decent to eat in the house.

And of course, despite our schedule, we’re just going to have to make time for exercise.

A vig part of what you said boils down to one big thing… more whole foods. More organics. Fresh things, not canned, not bagged, not boxed. You know? Other than that, simply saying no to cheese when you can, butters, salts, fried goods, etc. You’ll be fine. 🙂

Exercise is hard to get in there, espeically if you feel drained as it is come night time. But after a few weeks of regularity, it’d be second nature.

Gallstone trouble – ugh – hope you figure out what’s going on and feel better soon. Insta-food does suck, though, you’re right. None of that stuff tastes good to me anymore. I’m with you – I love good food, all sorts – and don’t want to give it up. I tend to make lots of soup and freeze it for cooler weather, then I don’t have to think about meals if I’m on my own. Take care.

Bildo: Well I definitely enjoy whole foods, organics, etc., so I’m game for that. There’s a new organic market that’s opening near us, but sadly it isn’t open yet. Unfortunately right now I’m at a point where even salmon or 2% milk is a problem, so I need to get past that.

Tara: Thank you! My ultrasound is Thursday, so hopefully it’ll be taken care of soon. At least I have some review copies of healthy cookbooks right now, so I can make good-for-me food and still be getting something done for the review blog, which is nice, since I’m not getting much done this week! Freezing soup is good; I need to remember to freeze it in smaller amounts than we usually do so it’s easy for me to pull out a serving or two and thaw/reheat. I started with tonight’s soup—we made a delicious lentil soup, and I made sure we froze one two-serving package of it.